Power transmitting mechanism



Oct. 29, 1935. R. P. KILE 2,019,137

POWER TRANSMITTING MECHANISM Filed June 25, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I 5.9 o 7 Oct. 29, 1935.

R. P. KlLE 2,019,187

POWER TRANSMITTING MEGHANI SM Filed June 25, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 29, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to gearing and particularly to gearing whereby an awning, an advertising element, or endless element may be operatively connected to a motor so that the driven element may be alternately shifted in one direction or the other while the driving element operates always in the same direction.

A further object is to provide a mechanism of this character which is manually latched at the termination of a movement in one direction and the power automatically disconnected and which, when the latch is released and the motor started, will automatically act to re-wind the driven element in the opposite direction for a predetermined time and then will automatically stop.

A further object is to provide a mechanism which,- as illustrated, is particularly applicable to raising or lowering awnings and which is so constructed that the awning will not be torn under strain in case the awning has shrunk and which is so constructed that upon starting the mechanism in one direction, the awning will be rolled up and the mechanism locked in the wound-up position and which, when released, will automatically unroll the awning and stop when the awning has been completely unrolled.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:--

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the side wall of a building and through my winding mechanism;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevation of the mechanism shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary end elevation of one of the drum shafts, the drum thereon, the cylinder supporting the shaft and the sliding yoke' upon which the shaft is carried;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view illustrating the means whereby the motor is automatically stopped and started;

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view upon the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the plate upon which the bearing for the shafts slides;

Figure '7 is a fragmentary section through one of the drums taken at right angles to the axis of rotation of the drum.

Referring to these drawings, Ill designates a base plate which is illustrated as disposed in a vertical position against the vertical wall A of a building. Brackets II extend outward from this base plate and support a winding shaft I2 upon which the awning I3 is assumed to be wrapped or rolled. The shaft has a friction clutch engagement with a stub shaft M which carries the gear wheel l5. This friction clutch l6 which may be of any suitable or usual con- 5 struction is illustrated as including two discs frictionally bearing against each other and urged into frictional engagement by means of a spring.

As before stated, the purpose of this invention is to provide motor operated manually control- 10 lable means whereby an awning shaft or a shaft of the like general character may be rotated first in one direction and then in the other, for instance, to unroll or roll up the awning to thus avoid the necessity of manually rolling up or un- 15 rolling the awning or rotating a shaft.

To this end, I mount upon the base I 0 the driving gear shaft H, which is driven from the motor l8 in any suitable manner. I have illustrated for this purpose reducing gears 19 be- 20 tween the motor and the shaft I1, but it is to be understood that the shaft I! might be driven by a belt upon the motor or by any other gearing system.

On shaft I1 is disposed a gear wheel 20 having exterior teeth 2i and internal teeth 22. This is the driving gear wheel. Opposite to the driving gear wheel 20 is a parallel driven gear wheel 23 having external teeth 24 and internal teeth 25. This gear wheel is also provided with laterally disposed external teeth 26 for a purpose to be later stated. This driven gear wheel 23, therefore, has internal teeth and two series of external teeth. The teeth 24 mesh with the pinion l5 on the winding shaft I2.

The gear wheel 23 is mounted on a shaft 21 which is in axial alinement with the shaft l1 and the internal gear teeth 25 and the internal gear teeth 22 have the same internal diameter.

Mounted for sliding movement, as will be later described, upon the outwardly projecting brackets 28 is a transmission shaft 29 which extends transversely across the space between the gear wheels 23 and 20, and mounted on brackets 30 is a second transmission shaft 3|, which is parallel to the shaft 29. The shaft 3| carries upon it the pinions 38 which engage respectively with the internal gear wheels 22 and 25. The shaft 2! carries at one end a pinion 39 engageable with the external gear teeth 2| and at the other end a pinion 39 which is engageable with an intermediate pinion 40 in turn engaging with the teeth 26. A rotation of the shaft I! in one direction transmitted through the shaft 29 to the gear 65 wheel 23 will cause a rotation of this gear wheel in one direction, whereas if the shaft 3| be engaged with the gear teeth 2| and with the intermediate 49, the rotation of the gear wheel 22 in the same direction as before will cause a reverse rotation of the gear wheel 23 and, of course, a reverse rotation of the shaft I2.

' The shafts 29 and 3| are each supported upon outstanding brackets 28 and 39, as before stated, and each of these brackets carries upon its outer end a plate 32, shown in Figures and 6. Slidingly mounted upon the opposite plates 32 of the brackets 28 is a transversely extending down wardly bowed yoke 5| and slidingly mounted upon the plates 32 carried by the brackets 30 is a transversely extending downwardly bowed yoke 5| Each of these yokes carries upon it at its ends the bearing boxes 33 in'which the respective shafts 29 and 3| are supported. Each of the yokes at its ends has downwardly extending bolts 35 whichare slidingly mounted in slots 34 formed in the respective plates 32 and anti-friction rollers 36 are disposed between the inner faces of the yokes and the outer faces of the plates 32, as shown in Figure 5. Thus it will be seen that the ends of the yokes 5| and 5| together with the bearing boxes 33 are slidable over the outer faces of the corresponding plates 32.

These yokes with their bearing boxes are urged upward in Figure 1 by means of the springs 31 which bear against flanges 32 on the lower ends-of the plates 32. Thus this shaft 29 is urged by the corresponding springs 31 toward meshing engagement with the internal gears 22 and 25, while the shaft 3| is urged by the springs 31 intomeshing engagement with the external teeth 2| and the teeth on the intermediate pin- ,ion 40. 4O

4 ,cludes longitudinally extending slats 43 held by adjusting screws 44 to the core 45 of the drum, as illustrated in Figure 7. By turning these adjusting screws 44 in one direction or the other, the slats may be shifted radially outward or radially inward to thus control the effective diameter of the drum and thus adjust it for various lengths of awning, as will hereafter more fully appear. I do not wish to be limited to the particular means for increasing or decreasing the effective 55 diameter of the drum, as other means might be as to wrap therearound is a cable 46 which is designed to be alternately wrapped first partly around one drum and then wrapped partly around the other drum. This cable is attached to drum 4! and then passes from this drum outward and downward to a block or pulley 41 and. then upward to the other drum to whichit is attached, as shown in Figure 1. This block 41 is retracted downward and outward by a normally un-tensioned contractile spring 48 connected to a turnbuckle 49 in turn carried by an outstanding bracket or post 50.

Ordinarily, the spring 48 exerts no tension on cable 45, but when the cable has been entirely wound up on one drum, as shown in Figure 1, the

cable will tighten because it can no longer umoll off the other drum and this puts the spring 48 under tension. This tension will increase until it becomes so great as to draw the drum upon which the cable has been wound up and its shaft in a direction away from the teeth with which 5 the pinions on this drum or transmission shaft coact, which is the position shown in Figure 1.

Each yoke 5| at its middle is depressed, as at 52, this depressed portion having an aperture 53 to receive the extremity of a latch 54. This latch is' pivoted as at 55, upon a supporting bracket 56. Each latch has an arm 51 which extends inward and is connected to an operating rod. One of these operating rods for one latch is designated 58 and the other rod is designated 58*. Each latch has an outwardly extending arm 59 and to the extremity of this arm is connected a contractile spring 60 which at its lower end is mounted in a support 6 This spring moves past the center 55 for the corresponding latch so that when the latch is in, that is, in the position shown in Figure l for the lower latch, the spring holds this latch in the aperture 53, and when the latch is thrown out, as is shown in Figure 1 for the upper latch, the spring will hold the latch out. The rods 51 and 58 extend downward through suitable tubes or pipes or other passageways formed in or on the building and are provided with handles whereby they may be operated either from the interior of the building or from the exterior.

The electric motor l8, as shown in Figure 4, is connected to a source of current through a switch having the two switch points 62 and 53. These switch points, as illustrated in Figure 4, are resilient and they coact with a fixed switch point 64 which is connected to a battery 65. The line'then runs from this battery to the motor 66 and then to the bed plate which supports the switches 62 and 63. When both of the contacts 4.0 62 or 63 are out of engagement with the contact 64, the circuit through the motor is broken. Bearing against these contacts are the rods 61 and 68. Rod 61 is connected to a lever 69, the other end of which is engaged by a fork 10 carried by the yokes 5|. The opposite rod 68 is connected to a lever II which in turn is engaged by a fork carried by the other yoke 5|. When a yoke is shifted by its springs 31 into engagement with the driving and driven gear wheel, the corre- 5o spending rods 61 and 68 will force the corresponding contact finger 62 or 63 into engagement with the central contact and close the circuit through the motor. The motor will then start, causing a rotation of the proper shaft 29 or 3| which will cause a rotation of the driven gear wheel 23 to in turn cause either a rotation of the shaft l2 to roll up the awning or a rotation of the shaft which will um'oll the awning. The switch is illustrated as being enclosed within a switch box or casing 12. In Figure 4, the switch is shown as being closed by the movement of the yoke 5| to carry the shaft 29 into operative engagement with the internal teeth 22, but it is to be understood that in the positions shown in 55 Figures 1 and 2, which are neutral positions, the contacts 62 and 63 are both disengaged from the contact 64.

The purpose of providing the clutch |6 between the shaft section l2 and the shaft section I2 7 is to permit the shaft section I2 to continue to operate after the shaft section |2 has been stopped by the complete unrolling or rolling up of an awning. The awning may shrink and, therefore, though the mechanism which has been 7 described might initially be adjusted so as to stop when the awning is fully rolled up or stop when the awning has been fully unrolled, yet after the awning shrinks, it would be likely to tear if the clutch it were not provided.

The cable 46 has the same length as the awning to be rolled or unrolled and stops the mechanism when this cable has been wound up entirely upon one drum or entirely upon the other drum. The purpose of providing expansible and contractible drums is to increase or decrease the number of rotations which will be necessary to wind up this cable and, therefore, wind up the awning or unwind it, and by adjusting the diameter of these drums, provision may be made for taking up any slack which might occur in the cable or in the awning.

The operation of this mechanism is as follows:

As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the awning #3 has been fully lowered. The transmission shaft 29 has been automatically drawn out of its engagement with the internal gear teeth 22 and 25, the electric current has broken through the motor 86 and the mechanism is stopped, the yoke 5| being locked by its corresponding latch 54, as

shown in Figure 1. Now if it be desired to wind up the awning, the latch 54 of the yoke 51 is released. Under these circumstances, the springs 31 of yoke 5& will urge the yoke upward to carry the pinions 39 and 39 into engagement with the teeth 2i and the pinion as, respectively. This movement of the yoke 5P will close the circuit through the motor and the motor will rotate the gear wheel 28, the transmission shaft 3| transmitting this rotation to the gear wheel 23 by means of the teeth 26 and rotating the shafts 12 and iii in a direction to roll up the awning. This action will cause the cable 45 to roll up upon the drum 32 and unwind from the drum 43. When the cable has completely unwound from the drum :33, the further winding movement of the drum 62 will cause the cable to place the spring 38 under tension and this, as the tension increases, will pull the yoke 5F downward automatically disengaging the gears 39 and 39 from the teeth 2 i and the pinion 48 and automatically breaking the circuit through the motor. The cable 48 is of such length that this stoppage will occur when the awning has been completely wound up. As soon as this has been done, the operator locks the yoke 55* in its retracted position. Now if he wishes to unroll the awning, he releases the latch 54% for yoke 51; the springs 3? then shift the yoke 5! to carry the pinions into engagement with the internal gears 22 and and this action through the switch automatically starts the motor. A rotation reverse to the former rotation is thus given to the gear wheel 23 and to the shafts 52 and I2, and the awning is unwound. As soon as the awning has been completely unwound, the cable 36 is completely unwound from the drum ii and then the tension of the spring E8 acts to pull back down the yoke 55 from the shaft 29 to thus release the driving connection between the driving gear 2! and the transmission shaft and between the transmission shaft and the driven gear 28. It will thus be seen that the action is automatic in that after the one or the other of the latches has been lifted, the motor immediately commences to drive the shaft ii in one direction or the other and that this driving motion is stopped as soon as the shaft H2 or the driven shaft 29 has made a predetermined number of rotations.

While I have illustrated my mechanism as applied to an awning shaft, I wish it distinctly understood that this transmission mechanism might be used wherever it is desired to rotate a shaft such as the shaft i5 first in one direction and then in the other, and that this shaft l5 might be used for driving any desired mechanism such as advertising devices, elevator shafts or any mechanism which is driven first in one direction and then in the other.

What is claimed is:

1. In a mechanism of the character described,

tion, means urging the two shafts into operative engagement with the driving and driven shafts, manually releasable means for locking each of said shafts out of said driving engagement against the action of said urging means but releasable to allow the corresponding shaft to move into operative engagement with the driving and driven shaft under the action of said urging means, and means automatically withdrawing that transmission shaft which has been operatively engaged with the driving and driven shafts from said engagement when the driven shaft has made a predetermined number of revolutions.

2. In a mechanism of the character described, an electric motor, a driving shaft connected to the motor, a gear wheel on the driving shaft having internal and external teeth, a driven shaft in alinement with the driving shaft, a gear thereon having internal and external teeth, two transmission shafts extending between the gear wheels on the driving and driven shafts, one of said transmission shafts having pinions thereon engaging with the internal teeth of both the driving and the driven shafts, the other of said transmission shafts having at one end a pinion engaging the external teeth of the driving gear wheel and at the other end having a pinion, an intermediate gear wheel between said last named pinion and the external gear teeth of the driven gear wheel, means urging the two transmission shafts in a direction to carry their pinions into engagement with the driving and driven gear wheels, manually releasable means locking both shafts for movement under the action of said urging means but releasable to permit either transmission shaft to move in a direction to carry its pinions'into operative engagement with the driving and driven shafts under the action of said urging means, and means automatically withdrawing that transmission shaft whose pinions have been operatively engaged with the driving and driven gear wheels from said engagement when the driven gear wheel has made a predetermined number of revolutions.

3. In a mechanism of the character described, an electric motor, a driving shaft connected to the motor, a gear wheel carried thereon having external and internal teeth, a driven shaft in alinement with the driving shaft, a driven gear wheel thereon having external and internal teeth, two transmission shafts extending transversely across the space between the driving and driven gear wheels, one of said shafts having pinions at its ends engaging with the internal teeth of said transmission shafts having pinions on its ends, one pinion being engageable with the external teeth of the driving gear wheel, an intermediate gear wheel engaging the exterior teeth of the driven gear wheel and engaging the pinion on that end of the last named transmission shaft, a drum on each of the transmission shafts, a cable attached at its ends to said drums, the cable being of such length that when it is wound a predetermined amount upon one drum it will be entirely unwound from the other drum, means supporting the ends of the transmission shafts for sliding movement toward or from the gear teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels, means urging each of said transmission shafts toward the teeth with which its pinions engage, manually releasable means for locking each of said transmission shafts out of driving engagement with the driving and driven gear wheels and against the action of said urging means, said locking means being releasable to allow the corresponding shafts to move into said operative engagement with the driving and driven gear wheels under the action of its urging means, and a pulley over which the cable passes, a normally untensioned spring engaging the pulley and urging said pulley away from both drums, said spring when under tension withdrawing either transmission shaft from its engagement with the teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels whereby when the cable is completely wound off of one drum and wound upon the other drum, said spring will be placed under tension and automatically shift the shaft of the operating drum out of its driving engagement.

4. In a mechanism of the character described, an electric motor, a driving shaft connected to the motor, a gear wheel carried thereon having external and internal teeth, a driven shaft in alinement with the driving shaft, a driven gear wheel thereon having external and internal teeth, two transmission shafts extending transversely across the space between the driving and driven gear wheels, one of said shafts having pinions at its ends engaging with the internal teeth of the driving and driven gear Wheels, the other of said transmission shafts having pinions on its ends, one pinion being engageable with the external teeth of the driving gear wheel, an intermediate gear wheel engaging the exterior teeth of the driven gear wheel and engaging the pinion on that end of the last named transmission shaft, a drum on each of the transmission shafts, a cable attached at its ends to said drums, the cable being of such length that when it is wound a predetermined amount upon one drum, it will be entirely unwound from the other drum, means supporting the ends of the transmission shafts for sliding movement toward or from the gear teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels, means urging each of said transmission shafts toward the teeth with which its pinions engage, manually releasable means for locking each of said transmission shafts out of driving engagement with the driving and driven gear wheels and against the action of said urging means, said locking means being releasable to allow the corresponding shafts to move into said operative engagement with the driving and driven gear wheels under the action of its urging means, means actuated by said cable when completely unwound from one drum acting automatically to retract the shaft of the other drum from its operative engagement with the driving and driven gear wheels, and means actuated by the retraction of said shaft automatically cutting off current to the motor and by the projection of said shaft into driving engagement with the driving and driven gear wheels upon the release of the locking means acting to close the circuit through the motor. 5

5. In a mechanism of the character described, an electric motor, a driving shaft operatively connected to the motor, a driven shaft in alinement with the driving shaft, a gear wheel on the driving shaft having external and internal teeth, a gear wheel on the driven shaft having external and internal teeth, an operating shaft driven by the external gear teeth of the driven gear wheel, two transmission shafts extending between the driving and the driven gear wheels, a yoke for each shaft and having bearings at its ends for the shaft, brackets slidingly supporting the ends of each yoke, pinions mounted upon the ends of one transmission shaft and engaging the internal gear teeth of the driving and driven gear wheels, pinions carried upon the ends of the other transmission shaft, one of said pinions being engageable with the external teeth of the driving shaft, an intermediate gear wheel engaging the external teeth of the driven gear wheel and engaging the other pinion on the last named transmission shaft, springs urging both of said yokes in a direction to carry the pinions on their respective shafts into engagement with the gear teeth with which said pinions coact, a drum mounted upon each transmission shaft, each drum being adjustably expansible and contractible, a cable attached at its ends to each drum, the cable having a length such that when wound a predetermined amount upon one drum, it will be entirely unwound from the other drum, manually operable locking means for each yoke and adapted to look the yoke with the pinions on its shaft in operative engagement with the teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels with which said pinions coact, springs urging said yokes in a direction to carry their shafts into operative engagement with the coacting teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels when said locking means is released, means engaged by said cable and acting automatically when the cable has been entirely withdrawn from one drum to exert a retractile force on the other drum to thus retract the yoke of this drum against the action of said springs to thereby carry the shaft of said yoke out of operative engagement with its corresponding gear teeth and a switch operative to break an electrical circuit through the motor when either transmission shaft has been shifted out of engagement with the corresponding gear teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels and automatically shiftable to close said circuit when either yoke has been shifted to carry its shaft into operative engagement with the corresponding gear teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels.

6. In a mechanism of the character described, an electric motor, a driving shaft operatively connected to the motor, a driven shaft in alinement with the driving shaft, a gear wheel on the driving shaft having external and internal teeth, a gear wheel on the driven shaft having external and internal teeth, and operating shaft driven by the external gear teeth of the driven gear wheel, said operating shaft being formed in two sections and a friction clutch connection between the two sections, two transmission shafts extending between the driving and the driven gear wheels, a yoke for each shaft and having bearings at its ends for the shaft, brackets slidingly supporting the ends of each yoke, pinions mounted upon the ends of one transmission shaft and engaging the internal gear teeth of the driving and driven gear wheels, pinions carried upon the ends of the other transmission shaft, one of said pinions being engageable with the external teeth of the driving shaft, an intermediate gear wheel engaging the external teeth of the driven gear wheel and engaging the other pinion on the last named transmission shaft, springs urging both of said yokes in a direction to carry the pinions on their respective shafts into engagement with the gear teeth with which said pinions coact, a drum mounted upon each transmission shaft, each drum being adjustably expansible and contractible, 2. cable attached at its ends to each drum, the cable having a length such that when wound a predetermined amount upon one drum, it will be entirely unwound from the other drum, manually operable locking means for each yoke and adapted to lock the yoke with the pinions on its shaft in operative engagement with the teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels with which said pinions coact, springs urging said yokes in a direction to carry their shafts into operative engagement with the coacting teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels when said locking means 5 is released, means engaged by said cable and acting automatically when the cable has been entirely withdrawn from one drum to exert a retractile force on the other drum to thus retract the yoke of this drum against the action of said 10 springs to thereby carry the shaft of said yoke out of operative engagement with its corresponding gear teeth, and a switch operative to break an electrical circuit through the motor when. either transmission shaft has been shifted out of 16 engagement with the corresponding gear teeth on the driving and driven gear wheels and automatically shiftable to close said circuit when either yoke has been shifted to carry its shaft into operative engagement with the correspond- :0 ing gear teeth on the driving and driven gear Wheels.

REZIN P. KILE. 

